Tonight I watched a riveting drama called "Patterns" (1955), written by Rod Serling and starring Van Heflin as an up and coming young engineer who has been promoted to an executive position at the corporation for which he works. The CEO of this company is a ruthless man named Mr. Ramsey (played by the always excellent Everett Sloane), who has built his enterprise into the giant it now is by never losing sight of the bottom line, which of course is profits. In reality, his father may have had more to do with the success of the business, but Ramsey is a megalomaniac and he takes all the credit. By all accounts, he does have the corporation on a solid footing, and is looking to expand it's horizons, but he achieves these goals via the expertise of his executive board, men who have all been chosen for their knowledge in a specific area. These vice-presidents write proposals and Mr. Ramsey makes the final decisions on how the company will move forward. In his business acumen, Mr. Ramsey would seem no different from a lot of CEOs, but there is one feature of his board meetings that is excessive : he is constantly yelling, loud enough to be heard in the hallway by the secretaries.
However, he is not a one dimensional tyrant. He does possess insight into the psychologies of the men he has chosen to work for him, and he manipulates them like chess pieces, moving some forward by praise while denigrating others to remove them from the board. In the movie, Mr. Ramsey has one man singled out for removal, a Mr. Briggs (Ed Begley), who has been with the company for 40 years. Briggs had worked under Ramsey's father as a top engineer and business strategist, and was instrumental in the company's rise to the top of the stock market ratings.
Now, however, Ramsey the son is in charge. He sees Mr. Briggs as an old, unproductive relic, and even though it isn't true, Ramsey is determined to see him gone. This is why he has hired Van Heflin and moved him from a company plant in Ohio to the executive headquarters in New York. Heflin is to be groomed as Mr. Briggs' replacement. Ramsey cannot simply fire Briggs, though. That would run against a business tradition against pulling the rug out from under long time, loyal employees. Even Mr. Ramsey won't stoop that low, if only because it would make him look bad.
Instead, he intends to make life at the office so miserable for Mr. Briggs that he will resign, sooner rather than later. Briggs is old and has a heart condition. Mr. Ramsey doesn't care; he hounds Briggs daily and screams at him in every meeting, humiliating him in front of the other veeps.
The catch is that Van Heflin, the new man in the executive suite, who isn't aware that he will be replacing Mr. Briggs, has taken a liking to Briggs. Despite his own business prowess, Heflin is a nice guy, and unlike Mr. Ramsey, he doesn't believe in profit above all, no matter the cost in human terms.
At a certain point, Heflin will catch on to what Mr. Ramsey is doing to Mr. Briggs, i.e. trying to force him to quit, and he will confront the boss, saying that he wants no part of such a heartless scheme.
It is on this point that Rod Serling's script will turn, and an ingenious script it is.
Which is exactly what you'd expect from Uncle Rod. :)
I was watching the movie and was about two thirds of the way through when it hit me : "Oh yeah...this must be the movie that Mom used to talk about, the one that broke Rod into the big time". When I found "Patterns" during a library search, maybe for Van Heflin movies (I don't recall), I did not recall ever hearing of it before. I saw that it was written by Rod Serling, who as you may know worked alongside my parents at radio station WLW in Cincinnati during the late 40s/early 50s. The dvd was being released on a new restoration label called The Film Detective (who do excellent work, btw), so I thought, "Hmmm, I've never heard of this one by Rod, but it must be a good one if they've restored it".
So I checked it out, as as I got to the 2/3rds point, I remembered - Mom used to mention a show that Rod had written before "Twilight Zone".....
"It was called 'Patterns' ", she said. "They ended up making a movie version of it and Rod's career really took off after that".
I saw on IMBD that the first, televised version won him his first Emmy, and if you watch the movie (which has the same script), you will see why. It's just fantastic writing, with all the moral implications you would expect from Rod. The acting is also top quality, especially Everett Sloane who plays "Mr. Ramsey" as ferocious and uncaring but not cliche.
"Patterns" is the story of the Rat Race, and how it operates at the highest level in the executive boardroom. Rod wrote it when he was 32. His deep insight into human nature is already very apparent.
I give "Patterns" Two Huge Thumbs Up, not only for the superb writing and acting, but also for some fine location cinematography in New York City. The hustle and bustle of the street and tension of the office building are both captured in black and white.
Definitely look for this one, especially if you are a Rod Serling fan. I think it's one of the best things he's ever written, and that's saying a lot. Highest recommendation. /////
Well, that's all for the moment. I am gonna head out to the store, then to West Valley Libe (open on Sundays, hooray!) to look for more movies before I head back to Pearl's. We had good singing in church. Hope you are enjoying your weekend. See you tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
No comments:
Post a Comment